10/22/09

Today we arrived at our training site in Hamdallaye after a long two days of traveling in buses and airports. I can hardly believe after many long months of agonizing over my application, awaiting a response from Peace Corps and preparing for departure that I am finally in Niger and about to start training as a volunteer. After arriving in the airport in Niamey, we collected our bags and exited the airport to be greeted by a loud, cheering welcome from a group of current PCVs who were waiting outside with hot bottles of drinking water (nothing stays cool here in Niger). As we rode in the Peace Corps vans from Niamey to Hamdallaye two of the volunteers who have been here for a while talked to us about their experiences so far and answered some of our burning questions about the country in which we are about live for two years. On the way, I saw a camel carrying a large load of hay, a crowded market and many mud huts with thatched roofs. When we got to Hamdallaye we had a brief introduction to the site and received our malaria meds. Then we unpacked, ate dinner, took showers, talked and went to sleep outside under the stars, with just the mosquito nets to cover us and the soothing sound of breezes and soft rains that come and go. I’m so exhausted, yet extremely excited to see what’s in store for tomorrow.